Increased Stalin's hold over Party

Used the apparatus of terror established by Lenin to dispose of 'enemies'

Instruments of terror

Use of terror central feature of Stalin's rule. Key instruments of terror:

Party Secretariat- collected info on Party members- could be used to condemn them as enemies of ppl
Secret police-
- carried out surveillance, arrests & executions
- Ran Gulags-labour camps for victims of purges
- 1934- NKVD evolving from Cheka
- Increasingly bureaucratic

Purges of party members- hand in party membership then expelled from Party----Lenin

Chistka of 1932-35

1932-New purge of Party membership- response to difficulties during 1st FYP & collectivisation
Local Party officials ignored orders for implementation of policies
Chistka meant to remove officials for rapid implementation of economic policy
1935- 22% of Party removed from posts-non-violent, showed mounting opposition to Stalin's policies

Was opposition real?

Victims of purges-

LW= Kamenev, Zinoviev
RW= Bukharin, Tomsky, Rykov
Local Party level- Quotas set by Stalin demanding certain percentage of each Party branch purged

Accusations-

Working with Trotsky
Spying for capiltalist powers
Plotting to assassinate Stalin
- Reflect Stalin's paranoia- 'I trust nobody, not even myself' Stalin

Increasing criticism of Stalin's policies-1932-

1932- Ryutin, former Party secretary
- Issued document to Central Committee criticizing Stalin
- Accused him of personal dictatorship- called for abdication
Criticism of brutality of enforcement of collectivisation
- Peasant resistance- unrest- particularly Ukraine & Caucasus
Party officials criticised unrealistic targets in 5YP-could't be achieved
Seventeenth Party Congress 1934
- Intended to celebrate successes of 1st 5YP
- Kirov presented criticisms so pace of change slowed- received immense support

Murder of Kirov 1934-

Show trials-

1935-6 - arrests & denunciations of members of Left Opposition

Series of show trials ( public trials of leading enemies of the state- often filmed for propaganda use)

Former leading figures of party accused of anti-Soviet activities

Trial of the Sixteen- leaders of the Left, Zinoviev & Kamenev, Aug 1936
- Accused of working as agents of Trotsky to undermine state
- Under immense pres. from NKVD- confessed to 'crimes'
- implicated leaders of right within conspiracy
Trial of the Seventeen- 1937-
- Purge of party officials- Karl Radek
- Accused of working w/ Trotsky & foreign gov to undermine soviet economy thru wrecking & sabotage
- Real crime- probs criticising Five-Year Plans
Trial of the Twenty-One-1938
- Purge of the Right- Tomsky committed suicide before trial
- Bukharin & Rykov accused of forming Trotskyite-Rightist Bloc'
- Both confessed- Bukharin's article 'Notes of an Economist' made clear criticisms of Stalin's economic policies
- Threat to Stalin

Trials staged to ensure other Party members intimidated by power of State

Relayed to Soviet population via radio & film footage

Confessions produced under torture- after guilty verdict death penalty carried out

Previous show trials- Shakhty trial 1928- managers & technical experts accused of holding back industrialisation

Purges widen-

Purges of the Red Army-137-8
- 3 out of 5 marshals purged
- 14 out of 16 army commanders & 35000 officers shot/imprisoned
- Armed forces critical of demoralising impact of collectivisation on peasantry who made up bulk of soldiers

	Created by Halima Hasan over 5 years ago

A level History (Russia) Note on Russia 1917-91: From Lenin to Yeltsin Government, created by Halima Hasan on 22/03/2019.